Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

"Scrubs" star Donald Faison admits he misses Judy Reyes, his former series wife on the show, who will not be making a return appearance when the reconstituted version of the series launches Dec. 1.

"Personally, I don't know what that's about but, yeah, Judy's not going to be back this year, which is really weird for my character, Turk," he says, "because the other half of Turk — other than J.D. (Zach Braff) — was Carla. It will be pretty interesting to go from Turk having a home life to not having a home life at all. You always miss people you have exceptional chemistry with so I definitely miss her."

Faison tells us he couldn't be happier with the show's move to ABC earlier this year and he just hopes fans will give them a chance to find their new stride. "It's been great. We now know where promotion is. When we were on NBC, there was absolutely no promotion for 'Scrubs'.'"

Season 9 shifts the focus to Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley), Turk and a group of medical school students, with former lead Zach Braff no longer a regular. "Zach came back to do the first five episodes and the majority of my stuff was him so it automatically threw me into a good rhythm. I miss working with him, definitely, but I still hang out with him all the time."

However, Faison has been able to step it up a notch now that Braff's character, J.D., is no longer the main focus. "You can definitely see a change. My character, Turk, has a different role when J.D.'s around. Turk's the straight guy and J.D.'s the goofball. When he's not there, though, Turk's the goofball. It opens up room for the character to grow. Regardless of what happens with 'Scrubs' after this season, I had a lot of fun experimenting with what the format of the show could be. I think we've come up with some really funny stuff."

ANOTHER VIEW: Indie film queen Parker Posey has kept a low profile regarding her battle with Lyme disease since the announcement of her diagnosis in February. However, that's going to change soon. Posey lets us know she has turned to a holistic approach to get her health back with great success. Now she wants to use her experience to help others.

First up, she's going to go out in support of a new documentary called "Rethinking Cancer" that tracks the experiences of five patients, four with cancer and one with Lyme disease, who took to alternative means of treatment including nutrition and detoxification and claim to have been disease-free for years, even decades.

"As someone who dealt with Lyme disease recently, I had the opportunity to approach it both with conventional medicine (antibiotics) and homeopathic remedies and supplements," states Posey. "The first round of antibiotics did not destroy all the bacteria and I made a decision not to take them anymore and instead approach it purely holistically — through the help of my homeopathic doctor, who guided me with my diet and gave me the natural supplements to bring my body back to its vitality."

The documentary will no doubt stir controversy, as Posey points out: "It raises the questions: How can a natural approach to healing oneself be considered so unconventional? Why do we think we can't play an active role in getting healthy? Why do we give ourselves away so easily to pharmaceuticals that deplete our system and confuse the natural healing process?"

ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE: Kathy Najimy, who started performing sketch comedy over 20 years ago with Mo Gaffney, tells us even though she's long since become a professional actor, she hasn't lost her love of doing impromptu comedic performances. "It's so normal at our house to have props or costumes," says Najimy, who is married to Dan Finnerty of The Dan Band. "I had a lady come to try and help me organize the house. She says, 'What's this?' I'm like, 'A box of costumes.' If it's someone's birthday, we'll put on a thing. We're like theater folks who never really stop."

CASTING CORNER: Casting forces on the planned Fox Martha Plimpton comedy, "Keep Hope Alive," are looking for an actress to play a 16-year-old version of Plimpton's character, as well as a teen who can pass for Garrett Dillahunt's as a youth. The show, from "My Name is Earl" creator Greg Garcia, has Plimpton as a woman who gave birth to her son when she was a mere girl of 16 herself, so those flashback scenes will be key. Newcomer Lucas Neff is playing the son today, and the cast also includes "High School Musical" actress Olesya Rulin.

With reports by Emily-Fortune Feimster

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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